Wanderlust3 wrote:
. . . I never saw anything negative in the comments that would warrant such a dramatic/angry reaction . . .
I'd never considered the angle of the unreported income when it comes to his financial aid. Could that have come to light, making Eric flee?
Wanderlust3: I think the reason you might not have seen the rude comments was because he was deleting them (so others didn't also have to wade through them). He would occasionally post his interactions with some of those trolls on his Facebook page instead. But we obviously have to agree to disagree on whether Eric was ever "hostile" or "rude" to his viewers. It's a purely subjective thing but I would offer that it seems a bit odd that someone so hostile and rude would amass over 10,000 subscribers on a channel like his in less than 8 months.
Everyone benefits from the government (i.e., everyone benefits from everyone else who pays taxes). Those who pay less still benefits from roads, bridges, sewers, etc. No one (to my knowledge), no matter how much tax they pay, has ever paid for an entire Interstate highway, an entire hydroelectric dam or an entire stealth fighter all by themselves. Everyone pays something, even if they pay no income tax. Even the poor pay sales tax in most states (including WA) on non-food items and it's usually only the middle to upper income folks who actually save all their receipts in order to deduct the portion of sales tax you're allowed to deduct from your income tax liability because taking the standard deduction usually works out better for lower income filers.
That said, while the IRS does require most crowd-funding income to be reported as a source of income, the law is still somewhat gray on what the tax liability should be for funds that have been received (and actually spent) to cover the costs of certain types of projects or activities. I am not a tax lawyer but I would guess (based on how other IRS tax deductions and credits usually work) that you'd have to show the expenses have a direct relationship to an allowable tax deduction or credit and there are usually limits on how much you can deduct. In Eric's case, (because he'd be taking his "home" with him) I'm not sure how he'd be able to show that the amount he spends on food while traveling to make the documentary would be significantly greater than what he'd spend if he weren't engaged in that activity. I'm not saying there isn't a way to show it or that it wouldn't be at least slightly greater, but I can't think of a good way to show that to the IRS unless he can somehow tie it to his educational requirements in some way (people do get academic credit for doing far more bizarre things than what he'd be doing). Similarly, he might only be able to deduct the amount spent on gas and propane above and beyond what he normally spends (which would necessitate pretty thorough record keeping practices, both past and present).
In any event, Eric has stated in his earlier videos that he used to go work for a temp agency for a week or two and then live off those funds for the next few weeks, then go do some more temp work and so on. Obviously that might be a lot more difficult to pull off while attending graduate school but as long he gets the loans to cover him he will have to pay them back eventually (they take your income tax refunds to pay them if you're in default). It's one of the few debts (like child support) that you cannot discharge at all through bankruptcy, ever. So, in a way, he's no more "living off the government" than any small business startup that relies on an SBA loan to get their business off the ground (except SBA loans CAN be discharged through bankruptcy).
As far as the promised mugs, hats, etc., he has until September to make good on that stuff. As such, I think some folks are being quite premature in their assumptions about what Eric will or won't follow through on by basing all their speculation on the shutdown of his (free) online RV related content. I don't really picture Eric as the type of guy who's going to go all sovereign citizen/mountain man on us just to skate out of his obligation to make good on his student loans and a few coffee mugs.